1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to piccolo devices. More particularly the present invention relates to a piccolo comprising a conical-bore headjoint, and a cylindrical-bore main body having toneholes of particular size disposed at particular intervals along the length of the body.
2. Description of Related Art
Instrument makers mean by an instrument's “scale” the particular lengthwise arrangement of the toneholes along the length of an instrument's tubular body. This term can also include the size of the various toneholes. Further, the term “scale” can encompass the size and shape of an instrument's bore. While the acoustical mathematics of rudimentary instruments have been known since ancient times, the fact is that the human ear does not always consider mathematically correct pitches to be in tune, depending on the musical context in which they are heard. Also, a strict mathematical arrangement of toneholes would only provide an equal “temperament” of pitches throughout a single octave—the pitches in the next octave would be out of tune due to the acoustical properties of any particular instrument tube, whether conical or cylindrical, closed-end or open-end.
In order to address this problem, instrument makers have developed various schemes of tonehole and bore arrangements, which typically involve varying the position of the toneholes along the length of the instrument, as well as increasing or decreasing the size of the various toneholes according to whim, or employing a conical rather than cylindrical bore shape. The result is an instrument of compromises—in order for the pitches throughout the range of the instrument to be in tune, certain sacrifices must be made to the perfect layout of the lower octaves, for example—and it is generally accepted to be the responsibility of the performer to manage these compromises to achieve a musically pleasing result.
Now, as individual performers vary greatly in their abilities and physical characteristics (lip & tongue shape or breath capacity, for example), instrument makers have developed their particular “scales” according to their own (and their clients') various hypotheses regarding what compromises performers can be expected “to put up with” in order to perform their musical duties. By way of example, the size of the C#5 tonehole was drastically reduced in Theobald Boehm's flute scale, and its location altered, in order to effect the correct pitch for the note D6; consequently, C#5 is well-known for having poor tone color, and is thus given particular attention in the training of a professional flutist.
The result is that most major manufacturers of flutes today consider their “scale” to be an integral feature of their brand identity, and flutists give “scale” the same, if not more, consideration as feel, material, and quality when choosing an instrument.
The piccolo, in contrast to the flute, has not seen the same evolution in “scale” as has the flute. This is partially due to the small size of the traditional conical bore of the piccolo—11.0 mm at maximum. This leaves little room for tonehole size variation. In addition, the fact that the traditional piccolo tube decreases in diameter towards the end opposite the embouchure hole further restricts the piccolo maker's choices.
Though piccolos and flutes are commonly considered “cylindrical” bore instruments, they both have central bores that in fact vary slightly in diameter, i.e. the bores are tapered. It was realized by early flute makers that a more optimum intonation of the upper octaves could be achieved by the introduction of a headjoint with a tapered bore, while the main body and footjoint of a flute remained strictly cylindrical. The internal diameters of the flute and piccolo have remained at 19.0 mm and 11.0 mm respectively, have not changed in over a hundred years, and are generally accepted to be unchangeable standards.
There are currently two types of piccolo bores available, both with a maximum diameter of 11.0 mm, which are those with a cylindrical body and conical headjoint, as with the flute, and those with a conical body and cylindrical headjoint. The latter is by far the most popular among professional musicians, the tapered head of the former being too small a diameter to produce a quality sound in the middle and low registers. While the conical bore piccolo's headjoint is large enough to produce the desired tone, the conical-bore piccolo suffers from poor tone hole ventilation (due to the 11.0 mm diameter), which produces a “small” sound that is relatively inflexible with regard to tone color and dynamics as compared with the flute. In addition, the preferred taper for the main body limits its length, which prevents the extension of the piccolo's range from the current “low-D” down to “low-C” and “-B”, as is seen on the larger flute. This limits the performance repertoire available to the piccolo player, as the player would not be able to play any note below the note “low-D” which may be written for the flute. Also, the extra body length afforded by these low notes on the flute assists in the acoustics of the extreme upper register. This extra length, and the accompanying advantages, is not, as mentioned above, available on the conical-bore piccolo today. Metal cylindrical-bore piccolos indeed have a headjoint long enough for the proper taper, but the taper starts from 11.0 mm, the result of which is a minimum diameter which is too small to produce the best tone.
There exist, particularly in piccolos made of metal, previous cylindrical-bore designs which attempt to include a footjoint section, extending the lower range as described above. However, these designs have retained the maximum bore size of 11.0 mm, and as a consequence still produce a less than optimum tone. The reason for not exceeding the traditional 11.0 mm diameter bore is that the necessarily larger toneholes accompanying an enlarged bore would be covered in turn by larger keys which would crowd in upon each other.
Therefore, what is needed is a piccolo scale that is capable of producing the full complement of notes and tones as would be afforded by that of the modern flute scale. The present invention addresses all of the inherent design problems discussed above and in the course of doing so encompasses aspects of an improved piccolo scale that will offer the player a wider range of control over pitch, volume and tone color, as well as an increased selection of performance repertoire, as traditional piccolos often are incapable of playing flute music due to their limited range.